Bake With Me: White Chocolate Cookies

2017 has been the dawn of my newest hobby: baking! I’ve been having fun experimenting with new flavors and ideas, but the classic recipe I continuously come back to is my favorite white chocolate chip cookies. These bad boys are massive, gooey, and chocolatey. Best of all, they’re simple! You probably have almost all the ingredients in your kitchen right now. The original recipe comes fromTanya Bakesby one of my favorite Youtubers,Tanya Burr. She has created so many incredible cakes, pastries, breads, and more. Plus, the book itself is gorgeous. Totally coffee-table-worthy.

funny story! When I was in London one of my favorite places for sweets was Ben’s Cookies in Covent Garden. They had a big gooey chocolate cookie that I was obsessed with, and we had an emotional goodbye. TURNS OUT Tanya based this recipe on the exact chocolate cookies I loved from Ben’s Cookies!

Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter, softened

300g sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

275g self-raising flour

75g cocoa powder

a dash of milk if the mixture seems too dry

a large bar of milk, white, and dark chocolate

Note: I just use about 225g of flour, as I found 275g makes it way too dry. And I choose to stick with only white chocolate. Do NOT try to substitute all-purpose flour. Learn from my failure. It is NOT the same thing!

All you really need to do is cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy, and then beat in the egg. Next, stir in your flour and cocoa powder, scraping the sides of the bowl of as you. If you feel your mixture is too dry, add a dash of milk, but not too much. I once went overboard and wound up with sticky, unmanageable dough. Don’t worry this happens to you! Just throw your dough in the freezer for 15 – 20 mins, and it will regain some malleability. Now it’s time to get messy! Break your chocolate into chunks, and use your hands to knead them into the dough. And now your dough is complete! Roll the dough into 9 – 12 balls, depending on how big you want them, and space them out on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 11 – 13 minutes, and voila! You have some seriously impressive cookies. Something very important to remember: they will not look ready when you take them out. They will seem wet, jiggly, and underbaked. But trust me, do not leave them in the oven longer than 13 minutes or they will burn. When you take them out don’t even try to touch or transfer them, just let them cool. In roughly 20 minutes they will harden and become actual cookies!

The final product will have all your friends and family begging you for more. If you have any leftover chocolate, don’t be afraid to melt it down and drizzle it on top! There is literally no bad time or occasion for these bad boys. I just made them for a Halloween party, and instead of melted white chocolate I decorated them with spooky orange icing. I’ll probably decorate them with Christmas trees in December.

When I first got into baking, I tried so hard to clean as I went along and focused on being as neat as possible. But we all must accept that baking = making a mess. Just take your time and worry about cleanup later. Also, you should do your baking with plenty of time to spare or not even bother. Never bake under major time constraints. It will make a relaxing activity incredibly stressful. Light a scented candle, put on some music, and have fun!